White Horses
by Avaritia
Summary: KK. AU. On the run after the destruction of her village Kaoru comes across a band of mages seeking to bring down the tyrannical rule of the Prince.
1. Running

**Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin is not mine…**

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**- Chapter One -**

**Running**

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"_We must play our lives like soldiers in the field,  
But life is short, I'm running faster all the time."_

- Killing Joke - **A Love Like Blood**

-

She was running.

Left, right, duck left again. There were tears in her eyes, blood in her mouth and her whole body shook as she hurled it forward, jumping over tree roots, crashing through brambles. Wind whipped her hair and the sky rumbled ominously, dark clouds gathering above the leaf cover; she'd have to leave the forest soon, she could only hope the coming rain would hide her tracks.

A particularly vicious thorn snagged her ankle and she stumbled, crashing into a trunk and clinging to it, breathing ragged. Her arms came up to circle the tree, breathing in the soft smell of dry moss and bark, trying to clear her head and stem the flow of tears. She gasped out a single sob, body crumpling into the bark but the sound of thrashing leaves and breaking branches behind her forced her upright, had her running on through the wood.

Under branches, over rocks, through a stream, ankle deep but frigid. She stumbled on, each step growing more mechanical, gaining speed as her body slipped into autopilot, focussing on _running_ rather than everything she'd just seen.

_They're here! They've found him!"_

She choked, palms smashing into hard earth as the memory shook her. She staggered to her feet, glancing behind before hurtling on. She couldn't stop. Grieving could wait. Anger could wait. All she needed was the fear that fuelled her.

Fighting had never been an option.

_Just keep running and you might make it out alive._

It was lost. Everything they'd trialled for, everything they worked so hard to gain, so hard to keep safe. If she were any braver she thought she'd look back and bear witness to the scene below. She thought she'd see columns of black smoke marching to oblivion from the rows of burning thatch. She thought she'd see corpse fires littering fields and hear the dull marching of hobnail boots on blood-wet ground.

But she was not any braver. And she did not look around. All she saw was parched bracken and low branches, roots to be leapt over and potholes to be dodged. She knew only the heavy sound of her breathing and thought only of her escape.

In some dark recess of her mind something was screaming but she did not heed it and, feet pounding over hard ground, she reached out for the edge of the forest and whatever lay beyond.

-

The city of Accorrolin was bustling, much in the same way it always had done. Merchants stood and yelled themselves hoarse on market stalls full of gaudy tack, everyday essentials and priceless heirlooms and men and women yelled back, brandishing light money pouches aggressively while street children threw themselves from roofs and under carts with pockets full of pilfered goods. Soldiers milled around with an air of importance and from the stocks roars of delight outweighed the background clatter and chatter that enthusiastically assaulted the ears.

Kenshin eyed the scene in resigned silence; he wasn't a fan of cities.

It had been ten years since he'd last been here, and if he had a choice in the matter he wouldn't be staying long. He had a job to do, he appreciated that, but he'd rather be doing it somewhere else. Anywhere else, truth be told. The war may be over, but the memories weren't likely to leave him anytime soon. Aoshi had called for his help and he'd give it, and then he'd leave.

With a sigh he hitched his pack a little higher, lightly sidestepping an old woman begging for money he didn't have and continuing on his way.

The inn he was headed for was a colourful place, hidden carefully within the rough, slum-ridden fringes of the docks. He wandered past criminals of every kind to get there, pickpockets, con-artists, assassins, general thugs, but no mages. Times were changing, he noted grimly, picking up his pace.

He was given no trouble, the strange looking sword on his hip combined with the hood hiding his face were enough to deter anyone with any sense; he reached the Aoiya unhindered.

Casting a furtive look around, he lay his hand lightly over the lock and mumbled something too low for anyone to hear, gently tugging the door open as something within it clicked. With a sigh he stepped into the dimly lit room, pushing back his hood; after the bright midday sunshine of the street it took his eyes a fraction of a second to adjust. He blinked the darkness back and violet eyes widened at the sight of an entire room staring at him.

The uncomfortably stiff silence held for a matter of seconds, until a sudden ripple of whispers broke out.

"Battousai-"

"I heard he'd died-"

"The scar, there's no mistaking the scar-"

"Shadow-"

"Killer-"

"Back in Accorrolin? After all this time-"

"It's the Battousai-"

He smiled tightly. That was one this he couldn't forgive this city for: it had an unwavering memory.

-

It had been months and endless days of travelling. From the forested mountains in which she'd lived her entire life she found herself descending through clouds into a flat expanse of farmland, trailing off into the distance as far as the eye could see. She'd survived in the mountains through the skills she'd known forever, hunting with bow and arrows she'd been forced to make herself, but on entering the plain there was nothing more for her to kill without incurring the wrath of a farmer.

She passed through, observing the drought that blighted her own valley's farms doing similar damage here. Harvest would begin within the month and the crops were dry and few. It would not last the winter.

She walked north and north, not knowing where to, just that she had to keep moving. She slept in hay barns, in cattle sheds, even under hedgerows, but eventually she could survive no longer on stolen fruit and meat and with the harvest beginning she saw it best to find herself paid work.

The farm she came to was old and patchy, so like home with its thrice-mended doorframes and creaking hayloft. She slept in the barn and woke each morning more tired than she'd been the night before. The work was hard but no more than she'd have handled in her family's farm and the comparisons ate at her until she thought herself mad.

Nightmares wracked her sleeping mind – the screams and the blood and her own face in the old cracked mirror. Footsteps less like footsteps and more like the thunder of mechanical hooves –a regimented clatter and people who weren't quite people behind armour and visors. There would be fire and she'd wake to smell smoke, smoke and she'd wake to the smell of burning flesh, drifting up through the trees and the memories until she wondered again (and again and again) if _they_ were what she smelt. Her family. Her sisters. Piled like lepers for cremation.

The bitter taste of shame reduced her to sobs in the darkness and she knew she should have stayed and fought. She would have died but not alone; she would have been with her father, she would have made him proud with the swordsmanship he'd taught her (she was the son he'd never had).

Harvest came and went and she took her pay, a meagre cut of a meagre crop; it should barely have been enough to survive on for a week, but she was getting better at conserving her supplies. The old farmer didn't ask her where she was going, just told her to be safe. She'd made no promises.

The winds of autumn picked up; blowing from the north with an icy chill she'd rarely felt in her mountainous home. She found herself shivering at night, wishing not for the first time that she'd thought to steal a horse when she'd first run. It was getting late in the year and people kept their beasts indoors; if she wanted to steal one now it was going to be hard work, and buying harder still. With harvest so low people would need those beasts to sell for food when the weather got too harsh.

She saw fewer people on the roads now, the odd merchant, perhaps a pilgrim. She avoided soldiers at all costs and found herself shrinking away from the one mage she saw, he was young and tall and she couldn't help but wonder if he'd known Katsu. She didn't think she could face telling that story yet.

The further north the road took her the colder it became. Before long she found herself wearing her sleeping blanket as a cloak during the day, practically burying herself in leaves at night in an attempt to stay warm. Her food supply was running out, she knew she had only a few days worth left, but she kept walking; if she stopped on the road she had a feeling she'd never get up again.

She saw that mage again, the young, tall one. He offered her something that smelled strongly of alcohol and she turned it down. He was going to the city too. She wanted to ask why, given that the Prince was known to be killing off mages, but her teeth were chattering so she settled for thanking him for the heavy fur he draped over her shoulders.

That night he shared his campfire with her, there was no point them both travelling north alone, he'd said.

The following morning he'd woken her up at dawn.

"Rise and shine, Missy," he'd grinned, passing her what looked like a baked potato, wrapped in cloth. "Careful, it's been in the fire all night, should be nice and hot."

It was a potato and it _was_ hot. "This is wonderful," she said quietly, chewing and swallowing and wondering if she was going to cry, it was so delicious; the first hot meal she'd had since she'd left the farm after harvest.

He just grinned and went back to his own potato. "I'm Sano," he said.

"Kaoru," she offered in return.

In the pleasant silence she hugged the animal fur he'd given her closer.

It wasn't until many hours later that she voiced her thoughts.

"Why are you going to the city?"

His head shot up abruptly but his smile was easy, "I have business there. Owe a friend a favour."

She frowned slightly, "Are they worth the risk?"

He blinked at her, "I'm sorry?"

"You're a mage," she said simply, "and the Prince is killing mages."

He seemed surprised, shaking his head in confusion, "He's a very old friend, well worth the risk, but I'm not sure how you know about Shishio."

She frowned, "He's the reason I'm on the road."

He caught her eye sharply but she didn't elaborate and he didn't ask her to.

Each village had a mage, master of both the healing arts and magical protection for the community he resided within. Healer Gensei had been her village's mage, but he was old and without any male descendants. Magic was only expressed in males; females were just carriers of the gene. Healer Gensei was Kaoru's grandfather on her mother's side and as a result she had the blood without the magic.

When Katsu had appeared one night out of the mountains, shivering cold and wet to the bone the council of Elders agreed to grant him sanctuary to continue his work if he agreed that on the event of Gensei's passing he would step into the role of village mage. He agreed to the terms, desperately grateful for the chance for safety he was being given.

That act of kindness eventually led to their downfall. They had all known of Katsu's experiments, of the fire magicks he was planning out. He said it was the future, and she was not alone when she believed him. His experiments were incredible, she saw entire chunks of mountain hewn off in a ball of flame, saw water turned to ash in the wake of his explosions. When the drought set in he moved further off to continue his experiments somewhere where they posed less of a danger to the village, but when it got really bad he returned, abandoning his post to help them work for food. Many times people wished they'd been sent a water mage, rather than Katsu's fire; while he was stronger than Gensei any weather magic from him would only have made their situation worse.

In those few months Katsu overcame any boundaries there might have been between him and the villagers, he worked in the fields as hard as any other man, earning respect even from those originally wary of his presence. It was only then that he chose to tell them that he was being hunted.

Kaoru's village bothered little with the king. His palace was far in the north and the rule of one royal to the next changed little in their home so remote in the southern mountains. What little they knew of the ruler in Accorrolin came from the merchants that came only once a year, not long after harvest (Kaoru tried not to picture what the travellers might find in their next visit).

Katsu told them more about the king and his government than they had ever wished to know. He said the king was very old, rarely leaving his palace, and by default his command of the armies had passed to his son, Crown Prince Shishio. He said that Shishio was mortally afraid of mages and their magic, something to do with a childhood encounter, an encounter that was rumoured to have led to his current physical state, covered head to foot in burns. In light of that it was not too difficult to imagine why he drove Katsu out of the city; it was said that he was rounding up mages and burning them. It seemed absurd that he would even try it; the power of mages was the power of nature itself, enhanced and focussed by a human vessel; to fight them was usually to die. And yet now that he had control of the army he picked off the village mages one by one, struggling to find the remains of the band of sorcerers Katsu had once travelled with.

He'd been so well hidden, but eventually they found him. Whether by chance or by tracking they found Katsu in her village and they burnt it to the ground. She had seen the mage die, watched the mage scar on his forearm flicker gold in the fire light, his eyes wide and unseeing. They'd never find his experiments. She remembered him tell that to her weeks before, when they traipsed in from the fields, tired and in search of dinner. He told her that they could burn the entire mountain range and not find any trace of his stash. And now she so dearly hoped that he was right, because the thought of those faceless monsters with the power Katsu had shown her to was too terrible to even imagine.

-

With a shuddering sigh Kenshin came out of his trance.

He blinked and found a young girl with a long black braid staring back at him guiltily.

"I bought your food-" she blurted out. "I'm sorry! I promised Grandpa I wouldn't disturb you."

"Not disturbed," he mumbled, gratefully picking up the bread and cheese she'd left beside him. "I'd have woken anyway."

She paused, looking ready to ask something else, but he was too exhausted to encourage her and she scampered from the room.

The door clicked shut behind her and Kenshin closed his eyes again. He hadn't lied, it wasn't her that woke him. He glanced towards the window, the sky was tinted orange with dusk; he'd been in meditation for at least six hours.

Aching with fatigue he dragged himself to his feet. Use of such magicks always took a lot out of him. He picked up the plate and went to slump on the bed below the window, watching a great raven sweep down to rest on the ledge past the lead-paned glass. Its strange amber eyes watched him coldly before it took wing again. He sighed once more.

It was several months since he'd first entered the Aoiya and the past few days had taken almost all the energy he'd built up in his stay in the inn. The owner's granddaughter Misao was the only person he'd seen on a regular basis now for over a week and all she did was drop off his food and come again to take away the empty tray. He'd been living in that trance, wandering the middle-world in search of the answer they so badly needed, and almost two days ago now he'd found it. Another soul. Living this time, which had surprised him. It had danced out his range several times but today he might just have caught it.

He placed the plate back on the floor and rested his head on the pillow.

All the summoning magic at his disposal had been sent after that one soul, he only hoped the fates would be kind and grant his request. There was going to be another war, and the last thing they wanted was to march without the Weapon.

The wind rattled the pane above his head.

He'd tell Aoshi in the morning.

-

There were fires burning on the horizon. They sparkled like little stars, bright chinks of light that only caught her eye because of the blanket darkness everywhere else in to the east.

She felt Sano come to stand beside her.

"Soldiers."

She just nodded and he walked away, wandering back to their makeshift camp.

They were nearing the city. He'd told her over dinner that it was only a day's walk away.

She didn't know what was going to happen now. She'd been travelling for months with only a vague shadow of a plan, and that was keep moving north. Then she found Sano and discovered that north meant the city and she'd allowed herself to dwell briefly on the idea of revenge, but that notion passed soon enough; she had nothing that could threaten Shishio. But now, now her destination loomed and practicality was forced to kick in. She'd need a job, but what jobs would a young woman find in the city? She'd lived all her life on a farm, working the fields or hunting with the boys; she didn't imagine that would help her at all here. All she knew of city girls were the stories merchant women would tell her of princesses and their palaces, and she knew for sure she wasn't one of them.

With a sigh she turned away from the distant glow the what was undoubtedly burning villages and headed back to where Sano was stacking the logs they'd need to keep warm through the night.

Sano had become a good friend over the past few weeks of travelling. He was an earth mage, she'd discovered; the only explanation she'd come up with for his uncanny ability to find dry fire wood wherever they were and pull up potatoes whenever they were in need of food. His mage scar was traced along the ridge of his knuckles on both hands, the shiny pink tissue sparking with bright bronze almost constantly.

All grown mages sported mage scars; they played a part in their initiation ceremonies when they were boys. She didn't know the details, not being a mage herself, but as far as she was aware the wound forced the magic to awaken within them and after the ceremony it would glow bright in the presence of its own element.

She remembered the first time she'd seen Healer Gensei's scar burn. She'd only been young; she and her mother were helping the old mage collect herbs on the mountainside and a heavy gust of wind had almost blown her down. Gensei had grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet and across his wrist she'd seen a silver flash of light. She'd refused to drop his hand and demanded to know what it was, and with patience and a smile he'd told her.

After that, whenever it was particularly windy she'd run to drag the old man out of his house, just so she could see his magic light up under the skin.

Sano spent most of the time with his hands bandaged up, hiding the scars; they attracted unnecessary attention, he said. She'd only seen them once, one night when he told her fragments of his story and in turn she told him fragments of her own. He knew what had happened in her village, but not the name Katsu, nor even that the mage the soldiers punished them for was anything more than an ordinary village guardian.

"What're you gonna do when you get there?" he asked suddenly.

She looked up and found brown gazing at her intently.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, where you gonna to go, what you gonna to do when you get to the city? Have you got people to stay with? Can you get work?"

"I hadn't really thought…" she answered truthfully, and he looked back into the fire, expression pensive.

She'd presumed the conversation closed, but he spoke again.

"Well, you can tag along with me for the first day or two if you like. I'm staying with old friends, they'll put you up happily until you get on your feet."

She was shocked by the offer. Admittedly he'd been kind from the first moment they'd met, but she had never expected the charity to extend past the end of their journey.

"They're mages like me," he continued, "And some of them are like you, you know, girls who can see magic and stuff. I used to think only guys could see the truth behind it, but some of them, if they don't have some kind of sight I don't know how they do the things they do."

He had a different look on his face now. It caught her attention, the slight softness to the tense lines, the slight tilt of the mouth. He was going home. She envied him that.

-

"You're the water mage. It's your job to read people."

"Couldn't you have placed some form of tag on them?"

"Aoshi, I barely had the strength to summon them. It's advanced magic, and the middle-world is exhausting. I've cut months off the hunt already. You can't ask more."

Aoshi nodded his head wearily, getting to his feet. "Our mole in the palace is dead."

With a start Kenshin spun on the spot, "What?"

"I don't know how it happened, only that it did. I don't think she's told him anything."

"But you have no way to be sure."

"No. And your talents are best used elsewhere."

Kenshin gave him a measured look.

"Sano is returning today."

Accepting the change of subject Kenshin followed Aoshi into the hall, "Really? He's taken his time."

"Says he found something along the way."

Kenshin laughed, "It's usually Misao's job to bring in the waifs and strays."

"Indeed," said Aoshi, looking pained. "Hopefully this newcomer will keep her otherwise occupied."

They'd entered the dingy bar area and Kenshin raked his eyes through the crowd while Aoshi leant across the bar to say something to Sae. The customers were mostly low power mages, taking refuge in one of the few places they were free from the spies of the Prince. Admittedly, the majority of them were too weak to even register on Shishio's radar, but it comforted them and bought in custom, so the Oniwaban did not object.

There was a loud bang.

"Well, Missy, welcome to the Aoiya!"

The door slammed back on its hinges and every head looked up.

"Sano," greeted Sae with a smile.

-

_**If you've read it, please review it!**_


	2. Returning

**Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin is not mine…**

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**- Chapter Two -**

**Returning**

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" _Much I want to ask and much to learn and much to see."_

- Sophocles - **Oedipus the King**

-

It took her eyes a couple of seconds to adjust and when they did she had to resist the urge to step back towards the comforting presence of Sano; the whole room was staring at them.

"Sano," said the pretty woman behind the bar. She was smiling.

The room was dark, smelling faintly of warm wood and ale. There were small tables scattered around between the door and the bar and many of them were occupied by men. But then she blinked. Not men. They were all mages. Every person in the room besides herself and the woman at the bar. She glanced nervously at Sano.

She'd never been in a place with so many users of magic, Gensai and Katsu in the same village had been more than enough magic to keep her occupied. This many mages couldn't help but make her nervous, especially in the city, right under the watchful eyes of the prince. Were they all mad?

"You're late," a low but surprisingly cold voice cut through her thoughts, snapping her attention back to the bar. A tall mage with pale eyes was staring at Sano impassively.

"Sorry. Got held up."

Kaoru bit back the urge to stare at Sano's casual dismissal, that mage was positively radiating power; he may have spoken quietly but there was no doubt who was the stronger mage.

But he just turned away and she staggered inelegantly forward as Sano gave her a little push in the back, apparently that was their cue to move.

"As I was saying," Sano continued, steering her towards the bar, "This is the Aoiya," he gestured vaguely at the room in general, "Haven for mage-folk since the end of the revolution, isn't that right, Sae?"

The pretty barmaid nodded with a smile, "Welcome to the Aoiya, Miss…"

"Kaoru," Kaoru said, smiling back in spite of herself.

"You must be hungry," Sae went on, "I'll have Tsubame get some soup together for you," then turning to Sano she asked, "Am I to presume she'll be staying with us for a while?"

"You are indeed, reckon we could get some bread with that soup? Oh, and leave out the potatoes," he winked at her.

"Of course," she answered, turning back to Kaoru. "I'll send for Misao, she'll show you to your room."

A little overwhelmed all Kaoru could do was nod.

Misao turned out to be a short, slight teenage girl, brimming with enthusiasm. She bowed quickly to the tall, cold mage and his companion before grinning at Kaoru like all her birthdays had just come at once.

"Hi! I'm Misao!"

"I'm Kaoru," she answered, looking nervously to Sano who simply laughed and turned back to the bar.

"You got any other bags?" Misao asked, already tugging on Kaoru's hand, leading her out of the room.

"No-"

"Great, well, Sae said you could have the room just across from mine. It's a bit small but I reckon it'll still beat living out on the road with only Sano for company- How did you two meet, by the way? Oh, never mind, here we are!"

She beamed, flinging open the oak door at the end of the corridor.

Kaoru stepped across the threshold, eyes wide as she took in the crisp linen sheets and small glass window. "It's lovely," she whispered, dropping her small pack at the foot of the bed.

If Misao found her quiet awe surprising it didn't show.

"Glad you like it," she laughed, hopping over to the wardrobe sitting in the corner. "You can dump all your stuff in here and either I can leave you to settle in, send Tsubame up with your food and give you your tour after you've rested, or I can show you around now and I'll get you back in time for your soup, whatcha think?"

"Erm…"

"I'll give you time to rest," she said decisively, flashing one last grin before closing the door behind her.

Kaoru stared at the closed wood for a moment.

"Wow."

She didn't quite feel ready to give in to her exhaustion just yet, so she focussed herself on exploring the little room. It wasn't big, probably a little smaller than the room she'd had back at home. She ran her hands over the wood of the wardrobe door, moving to stand by the window. Glass. That was one thing they'd never had a home. She knew what it was, of course, she'd had a small mirror, a gift her father had once given her mother, but glass windows… Well, it was the city, things were bound to be different.

She looked through the diamond panes, taking in the strange view with a small amount of awe. She was on the third storey of a terrace house, overlooking a wide river. Small boats were docked all along the bank and a steady stream of people walked past, none of them even raising their eyes in greeting to anyone else. Another strange aspect of city life, though one she imagined she'd adjust to relatively quickly after her first silent few months on the road.

Again she found herself thanking the fates she'd met Sano.

On the small dressing table over to the left of the door there was a jug of water and a small glass which she filled shakily and took with her as she settled down on the foot of the bed. The water was crisp and fresh, tasting more like it had come from a mountain stream than the dirty brooks her and Sano had been using the closer they got to the city.

There was a knock on the door and she looked up. A small girl came in, a tray balanced precariously on her arm.

"You must be Tsubame?" she asked tentatively, and the small girl smiled, a kindly smile not unlike Sae's.

"Yes, and you're Kaoru."

"That's right."

"Here's your soup and bread, with no potatoes, just like Sano asked."

"Thank you," she said, shocked by the sudden realisation of how much she really meant it.

"That's all right," said Tsubame with another bright smile. "Misao said to tell you that when you're ready to have a look around all you need to do is shout for her. Her room's just across the hall, but she'll probably be down in the bar if you can't find her there. But if you just want some sleep that's okay too, she'll wake you up in the morning. Sano says you've been trekking through most of the night."

Kaoru nodded again. It was true, that final push had taken them almost sixteen hours of non-stop walking. Sano bore it like he'd done it every day of his life, but the effort had really taken its toll on her.

"Oh," said the little girl, moving back towards the door, "Sae said that if you wanted some fresh clothes to sleep in there should be some in the bottom drawer of the wardrobe."

"Thank you," said Kaoru again, but the girl was already gone.

The soup was gorgeous, perfectly warm with so many new flavours that in the end she gave up trying to work out what was in it. Wiping every last drop up with the remains of the steaming bread she placed the tray carefully on the small table beside the bed, getting up to look for the clothes Tsubame had mentioned. Sure enough there was a bundle of shirts and skirts made of the same soft linen as the sheets on the bed.

She dressed quickly, pulling the curtains over the windows and sliding between the sheets. She was asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

-

"What news?" Okira asked.

The setting sun had dyed the western clouds a deep, fiery orange that melted seamlessly into purple as you followed them across the sky. Four mages were sitting around the table of a small room just above the Aoiya bar, golden beams of light marking patches on the old wood.

"None," said Sano, putting down his tankard of ale. "I found no trace of him. No one had heard of him, no one had seen him, the one lead I had was just another burned out shell of a village."

Kenshin sat back in his chair. "Do you think he's been caught?"

"I don't reckon some mindless bunch of soldiers could have gotten hold of him. I trained with him, remember? He's better than me, and with his imagination, the stuff he could do with his magic… There was nothing to hold him back. I just don't understand why he didn't reply at all. If he _was_ caught then we've got more to worry about than I think we were aware of."

"So, Katsu and Ori in one week."

"He's not dead, Aoshi."

The water mage gave Sano a look, "That may be the case, but he's still an inactive agent. If he's not responding we'll need someone else to cover his role."

"Fine."

"And what of this girl?"

"What about her?"

"Well, why is she here, for a start?"

"I thought she'd give Misao a run for her money," said Sano with a lazy grin. "She's tired and shy at the moment, but mark my words, there's fire in her."

Aoshi raised an eyebrow.

"She's got magic in her blood and she had nowhere to go. She'd have found her way here eventually, well, either here or the gallows, so I thought I'd save her some time."

"How did you meet her?" asked Okira.

"She was on the road, kept avoiding me, so that got me wondering if she could tell I was a mage. She could, she knew what element and everything. That reminded me of the girls here, and she was headed for the city so I thought it couldn't hurt to help her out a bit. She's running from her village, they got the mage there, her grandfather. Air healer, apparently. Not very strong by the sounds of it, they were suffering from drought."

"Hmm," said Aoshi.

There was a pause, Sano sipped his ale and Okira closed his eyes.

"Megumi needs your help," the old man said suddenly, eyes opening slightly out of focus and the mage scar on the back of is hand sparking lavender. "Patient's just come in, lost a fight. One of the spies, need to hear his story. Needs magic to heal him."

Sano stared at him.

He blinked, eyes clearing, "She's in the first floor surgery."

-

Five minutes later found Sano standing with a tall, dark haired woman, watching as she ground various herbs with a mortar and pestle.

"But what news have you guys got? Battousai back in the city, Aoshi looking like he's aged ten years in the six months I've been gone. It's gotta've been a crazy half-year."

The woman pulled a small bottle of strange scented oil off a shelf and added a few drops to the mixture she was making. "Shishio's grip is tightening, as you know we're recalling all members, but somehow he seems to have us tracked. He'll never find the Aoiya, even with mages working for him-"

"What? Back up a bit there, fox. Mages? Working for the _prince_?"

"So it would seem. Oniwaban numbers are close to halved in a single year, nothing but magery could do that."

"Shit."

"Indeed. That's why Aoshi called Kenshin back. And more specifically, that's why Kenshin came."

There was a pause and Megumi spread the paste she'd been making over the young man's chest.

"I'll need both of your hands over his heart."

"Got it."

"Misao's the only person who's seen Kenshin all week. She takes his food to him."

"I thought he looked… different. Not exactly older, just…"

"Harsher?"

"Yeah."

"On three."

Sano nodded, leaning forward and putting more pressure on his hands over the man's heart.

"One."

Megumi placed one hand on top of Sano's and another on the man's forehead, she closed her eyes.

"Two."

With one last glance at her concentrated face Sano did the same.

"Three-"

There was a burst of light as Sano forced a ball of energy from his hands and Megumi gasped, eyes flying open but unseeing as she held it down, directing the magic through the patient's body with the force of her mind.

Sano watched, no less in awe than the first time he'd seen it done; his magic weaved the man's body back together, sewing shut the open wound on his abdomen, resetting the broken bone at his shoulder.

Megumi was shaking badly, tears forming in the corners of her eyes as her fingertips pulsed and glowed. And then suddenly it stopped and she collapsed weakly into Sano.

On the table in front of them the man gave a shuddering gasp, sitting up and panting like a drowning man above water.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," said Sano with a grin as the man looked about in confusion.

"You're back in the Aoiya and Megumi here has just woken you up."

The man blinked at Megumi.

"We'll sent Sae in to get you settled, then I reckon Aoshi's gonna want to know who did this to you," he said, turning back to Megumi who was just settling back onto her own two feet.

"You need some rest," he told her softly, but she just pushed him off and tugged the rope that would summon Sae.

"Thanks for coming back, Sanosuke. Shikijou wouldn't have been able to save him."

Frowning, Sano could only watch as Megumi left the room.

-

When Kaoru finally woke the morning sun filtering through the curtains was bright and clear.

"Rise and shine!" it was Misao.

"I've leant you some clean clothes, they're at the end of your bed. There's a bowl of warm water over on your dressing table too if you want to wash. I'll meet you in the bar when you're done. It's about time you met some people."

Still a little dazed after the best night's sleep she could remember in forever, Kaoru staggered out of bed, washing and dressing before attempting to drag the comb she found in one of the drawers through her hair. It clearly wasn't going to work, so she settled for tying it back in the pale blue ribbon Misao had left with the long wool dress. The other girl was clearly slightly shorter than her, as the dress, intended to be floor length, hung about her ankles.

Feeling slightly more fit to enter company Kaoru slipped on her shoes and left the room, closing the door carefully behind her and heading for the stairs.

If she'd expected the bar to be empty this early in the morning she was mistaken, over half the tables were full and the room had the pleasant aroma of cooked breakfast.

"Ah, Kaoru," said Sae. "There you are!"

"Good morning," she said politely, feeling a little out of place in the buzzing room.

"Misao's just over there, I'll bring your breakfast over in just a second."

And sure enough, Misao was sitting by one of the windows chatting animatedly to Sano.

"Kaoru!" she beamed when she saw her. "Come and sit down, Sano was just telling me how you two met."

"Morning, Missy," said Sano, ruffling her hair. "Love to stay and chat but I've got myself a mission this morning," he winked at her. "No rest for the wicked, eh?"

"Mission?" questioned Kaoru weakly, but Sano had already left.

Misao laughed slightly at her concerned face. "He never told you what this place was, did he?"

"Well, no. Just that I'd be safe here and you guys were good old friends."

Sae dropped off two steaming plates of breakfast and the girls quickly tucked in.

"Well, in short, the Aoiya is the home of the Oniwaban," Misao began, "A secret band of mages that have been working for peace for hundreds of years. We used to work with the government, but the old king's dying and his son, Prince Shishio, has changed a lot of things. Grandpa, he's the head of the Oniwaban, pulled us out of the government about ten years ago when the revolution was over, before Shishio ever got involved."

She took a huge mouthful of bacon before carrying on.

"Grandpa told me I had to tell you everything if you were going to stay here, because otherwise you might not understand and tell people and put us in huge danger. Shishio's killing mages, which you already knew, but the thing is he's got much better at it recently. He's killing off our members faster than we'd even thought possible! And Aoshi, he's Grandpa's deputy, he thinks the prince is using mages, even though everyone knows he hates them. When you came in yesterday there was a man with Aoshi, by the bar, remember?"

"Who's Aoshi?" asked Kaoru.

Misao gave her a shocked look, as though everyone in the world should know who Aoshi was. "He was the tall, dark haired ice mage. He's got these incredible pale blue eyes…"

"Oh, I know who you mean!" said Kaoru, remembering the cold man from the day before, "I could tell he was powerful, but how can he be an ice mage? I thought there were only four elements."

"It's part of water, or rather the way his soul affects water when he uses magic, you know? He's ridiculously powerful, you're right. Himura's the only one stronger than him."

"So you can tell what element mages are, too? Sano told me normally people can't do that."

"He's right. Usually girls can't see magic at all, unless they've got magic in their blood, like you do from your grandfather." at Kaoru's surprised expression she apologised, "Sorry, Sano told me why you left your village too."

"Oh."

"It's okay, you know. This is the safest place for you, and probably the one place in the Kingdom you'll find people really trying to bring down the man who did that to your village. Shishio's evil," she turned her head, looking out of the dusty window with a suddenly sad look on her face.

But the moment passed quickly and soon she was talking again, as though there'd been nothing on her mind at all.

"But yeah, water magic lets you see souls, auras and the magic in people and stuff. Just like air is mind, fire is heart and earth is body. I've got water in my blood, like Aoshi, so I can see auras. It's one of those magicks they actually left for women, you know?" she laughed.

"But women don't have magic!" exclaimed Kaoru, shocked.

Misao laughed. "That's what everyone thinks, but my Grandpa decided to try and teach me," she lowered her voice, "some people think he's a little mad, but I'm glad he bothered, because it worked and if he hadn't I wouldn't be able to tell that you've got water in your blood, just like Megumi's got earth." She pointed at a tall pretty woman standing near Sano by the door. "She's our healer."

Kaoru stared at her. "But she's a woman," she uttered dumbly.

"Yeah, but they're all mages, she takes the men's mage power and redirects it, you see. She doesn't have any more magic than we do, but she can heal them with themselves. She needs an earth mage usually, that's why she sometimes works with Sano, he's our most powerful earth mage. He gives her the magic and she says she directs it to heal people. I think it only works because they're both the same element, but I don't really know. Theory was never my strong point."

"That shouldn't be possible," said Kaoru, frowning.

"Why not?" asked Misao, "Do you know a lot about magic?"

"I thought I did," said Kaoru, uncertainly, "My grandfather was a mage, like Sano told you. He said that I had the blood and could see the element behind people's mage scars, but never actually use the magic."

Misao practically bounced with excitement, "But that's it! The element behind the mage scar is their aura! The scar just makes it easier to see! You know, there are some grown mages that can't tell what element people are from their scars. It's because you've got water in your blood that you can. I'm water too. It's the magic of souls, which is why we can see auras."

"Magic of souls? But magic is elemental." This girl was dizzying.

"Well, yeah, but everything is under the power of magic really. Like the body is earth, which is why Megumi's such a good healer, she can control what the body does just by thinking, and the mind is air, which is why Grandpa can read thoughts as well as summon winds-"

Kaoru was staring in disbelief. This extent of magic had never even occurred to her, for all Gensai and Katsu's instruction.

Misao laughed lightly, "You look surprised. Maybe your Grandpa wasn't that powerful, some mages don't get any further than the basics."

Kaoru thought perhaps she should be offended, but it was clearly true. She doubted Gensai had any idea of the extent his magic could have covered.

"Would you teach me?" she asked suddenly, "To see people's auras?"

"Of course!" said Misao, clearly delighted. "I'm glad Sano bought you here, it'll be so great to have some real company around here."

-

"Long time no see, Kenshin."

"Good morning, Sano."

"Hear we're all calling you the Battousai again, eh?"

"Not funny, Sano."

"Just enquiring." the earth mage commented lightly. "You've got quite the reputation back here in old Accorrolin."

"That I have, though it's no choice of mine."

The slight redhead checked the sword at his belt, pulled the cloak closer about his shoulders and quickly tugged the tie out of his hair.

"You look tired."

"I am tired. I've been scouting all week," Kenshin replied, dragging his hair back higher and retying it.

"Well, I've been trekking all winter and you don't see me looking that rough."

Kenshin paused at the door, turning to give Sano a toothed smile, "Not that kind of scouting."

Sano laughed, "Right you are. I'll just leave you to the shadows, shall I?"

"We'll regroup a half past the hour, beneath the clock. Don't let yourself be seen."

"As if I would," said Sano, and Kenshin nodded, pulling up his hood and checking his sword once more before stepping out into the street.

As he settled into the stream of morning traffic, all bustling towards the city centre, he couldn't help but smile a bit, stretching out his senses until he could feel the presence of every person between there and the market.

After almost a month indoors he was looking forward to getting back into the hunt.

-

**AN: **I challenge ye, reader, to find something (anything) to say about what you've just read. Because reviews feed authors, you know. It's true.

In other news, Happy New Year! 2008 should be a good one.

_**If you**__**'ve read it, please review it!**_


	3. Rescuing

**AN:** Long time no see, I know... Well, I'm back!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin…**

**-**

**- Chapter Three -**

**Rescuing**

-

When they'd finished their breakfast Misao tugged Kaoru behind the bar, flashing Sae an impish grin as they took off through the door into the kitchens.

From where she stood up to her elbows in soap suds Tsubalme offered them a bright greeting, "Good morning Misao, Miss Kaoru!"

"You need anything from the Market?" Misao asked the girl as she threw on a coarse, dark cloak, passing a similar one to Kaoru.

Looking a little uncertain Tsubalme replied that she'd better ask Sae and went back through the door they'd just entered by.

"I reckon it's about time I showed you around good old Accorrolin Town!" Misao said with a grin. "Introductions will have to wait for this evening, almost everyone's been called out for the raid Sano's on. I know what he said, but it's not everyday we throw people in on the job the day after they get in from a journey like his."

Kaoru nodded, wondering what exactly Sano had been called off to do. She hoped he'd stay safe…

"We need some more eggs, flour and Sae says you can choose the vegetables," Tsubalme said as she reappeared.

"Great," grinned Misao, and fishing some coins out of a dusty old jug on the shelf by the door, she steered Kaoru out the back of the kitchen.

The back door left them in a dingy alley, sky obscured by the tall buildings on either side. Kaoru wrinkled her nose and drew her cloak up to cover her mouth and nose; the salty tang of sea water laced with sewage must have been masked by her exhaustion the previous day.

Misao laughed, "Yeah, the docks never smell that great; just you wait til summer!"

"So where are we going?" she ventured, as Misao skipped ahead round the corner of the alleyway. She could hear the sounds of a busy road up ahead, all shouting people and hoof beats.

"The market," answered the smaller girl, "it's only a ten minute walk."

The road to market was a busy one, with people of all shapes and sizes towering over the pair of them. Kaoru worked hard to keep up with Misao's light footsteps, darting between carts and horses, baiting street children then running back into the crowd as they retaliated. For her part Kaoru remained quiet; she'd never been anywhere with this many people before, and without Sano's strong presence behind her she couldn't help but feel a little vulnerable. Misao paid no heed to the crowd or the noise though, she skipped through it like she'd done it every day of her life, and Kaoru supposed she probably had done.

Soon enough the road widened out, and if anything the crowd got even busier. The shouting definitely got louder, and it was a struggle for Kaoru to hear Misao as she yelled over her shoulder.

"We're here! Just follow me, Miss Jenkins's egg stall should be around here somewhere…"

The shopping trip probably lasted no more than an hour, but Kaoru felt it was more exhausting that the sixteen hour trek her and Sano had endured the previous day! Misao haggled long and hard with Miss Jenkins over egg prices, and the pair of them deliberated for ages over what vegetables to bring back (they decided against potato, as it was all Sano and Kaoru had eaten in days).

They were finally heading back to the road home when three soldiers nearly knocked the pair of them down running past.

"I wonder what they're up to…" Misao pondered, looking after them, brow wrinkled.

Carefully they followed, the crowd getting more pushy and tighter packed the further they went. Whispers were breaking out, Kaoru was sure she overheard 'magic' at least a couple of times, and one glance at Misao's worried face confirmed it.

Shoving their way between two beefy men they found themselves at the front of a circle forming around four soldiers, pinning down a screaming struggling boy.

"Gerroff of me!" he yelled, kicking grubby limbs at any part of the soldiers he could reach. "I'm no mage, a lamp fell over, I didn't start any fire! LET ME GO!"

"What happened?" Misao asked, in her sweetest, most innocent little girl voice, and one of the beefy men answered quickly.

"This kid, some street rat, nicked a loaf from the Nichols' bakery, people have been chasing him for a few minutes, and they're right up on him and suddenly this fire springs up right between them! He would have got away were the guards not here! Dunno what's going on today, first all that kafuffle up by the palace, now kids magicking up fires in the street. It's just not right, I tell you. Magic in this city; it's just not right."

Misao nodded wide eyed-

SMACK!

Kaoru jumped, head whipping around back to where the boy lay pinned to the floor, still struggling. One of the soldiers was raising his leather belt again. Her jaw dropped.

SMACK!

This time the boy stopped struggling, if only for a moment; from where she was standing Kaoru could see tears in his eyes.

"STOP!" she screamed, stepping forward.

Behind her Misao's eyes widened, "Kaoru what are you doing?" she hissed, but the other girl didn't seem to hear.

"Stop!" The soldiers were looking at her now, and she was mentally kicking herself for speaking up, but one glance at the boy on the floor steeled her nerves.

"Stop! He's-" their eyes met briefly and he gave her a disbelieving look. "He's my brother!"

A surprised murmur ran through the crowd.

Not quite sure where this newfound confidence had come from she marched forwards and grabbed the boy's arm, tugging him away from the soldiers who seemed too surprised to do anything but let him go.

"He's not a mage, just a very stupid little kid," she shook his arm disapprovingly for effect, "I told him we couldn't afford bread this week, but he just has to run off and get some himself!" she tugged the loaf of bread out from under his arm and handed it firmly to the soldier nearest her. "I'm sorry for any trouble he's caused, and I hope the lamp he knocked over didn't cause too much damage."

And with that she turned around, met Misao's shocked eyes and dragged the boy with her back into the crowd.

"You wait one minute young lady-" snapped the guard, diving after them, but a split second later and they were already following Misao at a run through the market, ducking under stalls and rolling under carts.

"I- I don't know what you were thinking-" gasped Misao as they dashed away from the racket the guards were causing trying to find them, "but that was bloody brilliant!"

-

When they finally made it back to the alley near the Aoiya, bruised, aching and utterly out of breath, Misao turned sharply to the boy, his wrist still clasped in Kaoru's grip.

"What's your name?" she demanded.

"Yahiko," he snapped back, equally uncivilly.

"How long have you known you're a mage?"

He snorted, "I'm not a mage!" but under her hand Kaoru felt his pulse quicken; he was nervous.

Misao laughed dismissively. "Yes you are, don't bother lying," she sighed. "My name's Misao, and the girl that just saved your neck is Kaoru. We're from a group of people who can help you, keep you safe."

"I don't need help."

"Sure you don't. You had that situation perfectly under control."

"Yeah, well if _ugly_ here hadn't stepped up I'd have gotten away without anyone remembering my face! But now they'll be looking out for a kid with a loudmouth 'sister'!"

"Excuse me!" snapped Kaoru, letting go of his wrist to cuff him around the ears. "If it wasn't for me you'd be being dragged off for a hanging!"

"I could take them."

The girls stared at him in disbelief.

"Take them?" queried Kaoru. "You're half my height and there were four of them. Pray tell how you were going to 'take them'."

"The same way I'm going to get away from you!" he snapped triumphantly, leaping out of Kaoru's range and clapping his hands with an intent look of concentration on his face.

The was a soft 'boom' and a cloud of smoke appeared, making the girls cough, and stagger backwards.

Waving their arms to help it clear they looked up to the sight of Sano holding Yahiko by the back of his shirt, chuckling to himself. "What have we here, eh?"

"Misao, I've told you about this," came a cold, clearly unimpressed voice from behind Sano. Aoshi stepped forward to stamp out the tiny fire sourcing the smoke.

"But-" Misao started.

"You'll have to do better than that to get away from our guys, kid," laughed Sano. "From what we've been hearing on our way back from market, you owe these girls here a thank you."

Yahiko tightened his jaw and looked and the ground stubbornly. Kaoru huffed.

"You have got to be the rudest little boy I have _ever_ met!"

Sano grinned, giving Yahiko a push back towards the girls. "Me and the ice man are just dropping by to pick up some kit, why don't you guys get this newcomer some lunch. Okira will want to talk to him when he gets back."

At the sound of lunch the boy perked up, looking up at Misao expectantly.

"He's not to leave the Aoiya until I've spoken with him, Misao," said Aoshi, looking at the child intently. "When Kenshin is back… Kenshin will need to talk with him too."

"Got it…" said Misao uncertainly. Glancing between Sano, whose face revealed nothing, and Aoshi in slight confusion. "Come on Yahiko, welcome to the Aoiya…"

-

An hour later saw the girls sat in the bar, Yahiko well fed and helping (surprisingly willingly) in the kitchen with Sae and Tsubame.

"So what element is Yahiko?" asked Misao with a look that clearly said 'this is a test'.

"Fire…?" ventured Kaoru.

"Well duh, but would you have been able to tell from anything besides the fact that the only thing he can do with his magic is start fires?"

"Erm…"

"Look, don't worry, it's really not that difficult. Look at Sano over there," she said, gesturing to where the mage had come through the door. If you look closely at the area around his temples you should see something like what you saw in his mage scar."

"But I can only see anything in the scar when it's near their element. Like, I could see it bright and clear when we were sitting in a forest eating potatoes he'd pulled out of the ground, but right now they'd probably just be dull."

"But you'd still know they were mage scars."

Kaoru glanced back to Misao, a look of confusion on her face, "Well, yeah…"

"And looking at Yahiko today, you didn't even need to think to know he was a mage, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so…" She thought of the moment she'd entered the Aoiya, the sudden awareness that she was surrounded by users of magic.

"Then that's the hard part done. You can feel the magic, you know it's there when it's there and that it's not when it's not; all you need now if to know how to _see _it."

"Then how do I do that?"

"Sano!" it was Megumi, dashing down the stairs.

He tall earth mage looked up from where he'd slumped at the bar.

"What's happened?"

"My part's over with for today," he said, wearily.

"And the others?"

"Kenshin's still at it, Aoshi's not due back for another few hours, and the gang's still recovering the mess they made at the palace."

"Did it work?"

"Yeah, he's all in one piece."

"You did everything I said?"

"Yes."

"And-"

"Megumi, I might not be a healer but I'm still and earth mage; the guy's fine."

"You should have bought me with you-"

Kaoru glanced anxiously at Misao who was watching the dialogue with her lip between her teeth.

"Too risky," he said bluntly and slumped off up the stairs, leaving Megumi looking confused and angry at their foot.

"What was all that about?" asked Kaoru, eyes wide.

"I don't know… Something tells me the mission today didn't go quite according to plan," answered Misao, hurriedly turning back to Kaoru as Megumi looked over.

-

As the day continued there were more banging doors, and by the time evening came around it was clear Sano and Megumi weren't talking. Aoshi came back in the late afternoon, looking exhausted and brushing Misao aside rudely when she asked how it had gone. The rest of the Oniwaban crew appeared in dribs and drabs as the shadows lengthened, each in varying states of injury, a flustered Megumi tending to them as quickly and thoroughly as she could.

"Where is he?" demanded Sano, he was at least a floor above her, but Kaoru jumped as his voiced sounded through the walls of her room.

Whatever Okira had in answer was too reasonable in volume for her to be able to hear, but Sano's reply was clear enough.

"He's our fastest, our strongest, the most feared mage in the country and _you don't know?…. _I know he's impossible to track, but surely if he's hurt we should have a way of finding out. He's an incredible fighter, but he's not immortal!… I'm not worrying! But we go way back, and if he needs help, I want to be there!"

There was the sound of two people descending the stairs and Kaoru heard Okira's voice for the first time.

"I assure you, Sano, wherever Kenshin is, no one can help him but himself. You must trust him, boy, he is more than capable of fulfilling the task we gave him. He will be back."

"But-"

"Calm yourself, Sanosuke. Kenshin will be fine. In the mean time, why don't you round up our new guests, it's about time I met with them!"

Sano huffed outside her door, and then knocked. Timidly she opened it.

"Sano?"

"Okira wants to talk to you and the brat."

"Yahiko?" she questioned with surprise, "I think he's still with Tsubame…" she laughed and added with a lighter tone, "I think he might like her."

Sano's face relaxed and he chuckled and nodded, "Figures. How 'bout you go find Okira downstairs and I'll round up the boy?"

"Okay," she smiled.

Okira, Misao's grandfather, was sat silently in the corner of the bar.

"You must be Kaoru," he said.

"Yes, sir."

"So from what my granddaughter tells me, you're as much of a mage as she is. Let me tell you that you're welcome here as long as it suits you to stay."

"I don't know about 'mage', Okira, but thank you."

"She tells me you can see aura's through mage scars?"

"Yes… No more than that though. She didn't manage to show me how to do it without the scar."

The old man pulled up his sleeve to reveal a deep scar in his arm; it glimmered faint purple, casting a soft glow. "What element am I?"

"Air, like my grandfather."

"That's right. Now, look at my face, right between my eyes, and squint."

"Erm…"

"Don't be shy, just do as I say."

So she did, feeling distinctly stupid in the process, and then suddenly she thought she caught something in the corner of her eye; an odd light. But as she tried to focus it was gone.

Seeing the look of revelation on her face Okira smiled. "There. You saw the same light around my temples, did you not?"

"Yes," she said, smile growing on her face.

"That is all it takes, and with practice it will come much easier, until you see it as soon as looking at a person."

"Thank you, Okira."

"Not at all," smiled the old man. "Now, tell me about yourself. You've had a tough journey, and Sano tells me you're made of far sterner stuff than first appearance might suggest."

Feeling a little uncomfortable again Kaoru looked at her knees. "My village was burned down by soldiers. I escaped and ran as far as I could. I met Sano along the way and he helped me, and bought me here. That's it really…"

"Your family?"

"They're all dead, sir."

"And why aren't you?"

_Good question_, she thought. "I was lucky, a friend told me to run, and when I saw him die I did."

"Can you fight?"

"Yes."

"Well?"

"I made my father very proud, sir. I can use a sword, and fight hand to hand. I can hunt with a bow and arrow too."

"That's impressive for a girl so young."

"I'm nineteen, sir, and I've been training since I could walk; it's not that impressive at all."

"And modest, I see. Excellent, excellent," Okira chuckled. "I have a proposal for you, Miss Kaoru."

"Oh..?"

"How would you like to continue your training here? We have a suitable hall on the third floor, and a well stocked armoury."

Kaoru was shocked almost to silence by that. She wasn't sure what she was expecting but it certainly wasn't this. "Sir, that would be fantastic! Are you sure?"

"Or course I am, my dear, I will alert Misao to introduce it all to you tomorrow if that suits you."

"Yes, definitely!"

To be able to train again! She'd been so conscious of her muscles losing strength on the journey, but food had been scarce and before long continuing to drill herself with exercises burnt up more energy than she had to spare. The confidence fighting had once bought her was something she hadn't noticed she'd left behind before it was suggested that she could have it back so soon.

The old man smiled, "That is the happiest I have seen you look since your arrival, Miss Kaoru, I am glad the idea pleases you."

They made polite small talk for another couple of minutes, and Okira effortlessly blocked Kaoru's attempts to find our more about the raid everyone was so tense about. Soon after there was a knock on the door and Sano strolled in with a grumpy looking Yahiko in front of him.

"Miss Kaoru, it has been a pleasure," smiled Okira, rising from his seat.

Nodding her thanks Kaoru took her cue to leave, hoping to see if she would have any more luck quizzing Sano about his earlier mission, but he just grinned at her and ducked into the kitchen, leaving her out in the hallway with nothing to do but return to her bedroom and try to sleep.

-

With all the tension in the house Kaoru had tossed and turned for hours before giving up on sleep entirely. She headed back down to the only other part of the building she didn't feel like an intruder in, the bar, and poured herself a glass of water from the jug on side.

She'd been sitting there for a good half an hour before a slight sound outside caught her ear.

There was a soft thump against the door and she started, placing her glass down and sliding off her seat. Picking up the first thing that came to hand as a potential weapon, a broom, she edged towards the door, and heard a coarse voice rasp out the entrance charm. The handle turned and as the door swung open the broom fell from her fingers; she dashed forward to catch the injured figure before he hit the floor.

It was Kenshin, the slight mage Misao had pointed out behind Aoshi in the bar. The one Sano had been worrying about all afternoon. He was much heavier than he looked and she lowered him gently to his knees, trying to catch his eyes in reassurance; he didn't look up from the floor once.

And then suddenly it hit her.

It was a sensation she related immediately to watching Katsu demonstrate the product of his research. He'd been blowing up a patch of rock, just east of the village, blasting a new entrance into a cave; Kaoru had gone to watch with Healer Gensai and her father, along with a few others. There had been a staggering bang, combined with a blast of heat that sent her tripping back into her father, but after that she remembered something that wasn't quite smell and wasn't quite taste but somewhere between the two, it caught up in her throat and made her want to gag while her veins hummed with it.

Magic.

Raw magic.

She stumbled away from Kenshin as he stepped slowly to his feet. The smell-taste was everywhere, filling her lungs, making her skin crawl.

"Fetch Megumi," It was a command, not a request.

Kaoru ran.

The stairs creaked agedly as she leapt up them two at a time, "Megumi!" she yelled, banging on doors, trying to find the one the healer would be resting in. "Megumi!"

She knew the noise she was making wasn't necessary, but it was reassuring, grounding her senses while all the while her nerves burned with the magic that clung about Kenshin. Whatever he'd been doing it took more magic than Katsu had used to blow through ten feet of rock. The very thought of it made her quail.

"Megumi!"

"What?" came a snapped reply, the other woman stepped out of a room down the hall, tying a gown at the waist.

"It's Kenshin," Kaoru rushed, breathing hard, "He's downstairs. Hurt."

There was a moment's pause, and Kaoru saw the taller woman's intake of breath. Megumi dashed back into her room before sprinting down the stairs with her healers pack under her arm.

Not quite sure what to do next Kaoru followed.

-

_**If you've read it please review it.**_


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